A baby cut from the womb of a murdered teen has died after a long battle in hospital.
Pregnant US woman Marlen Ochoa-Lopez was allegedly attacked in April by 46-year-old Clarisa Figueroa, who planned to claim her baby as her own.
- Pregnant US teen allegedly murdered, baby cut from her womb
- Husband of murdered pregnant teen cradles newborn cut from wife's womb
Ochoa-Lopez was strangled before her baby was removed, police said. Authorities say Figueroa then called an ambulance for the baby, who was blue in the face. The baby was left in a critical condition with little brain function.
On Friday (local time), a family spokesperson announced that he had died from severe brain injury.
"It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of baby Yovanny Jadiel Lopez," Julie Contreras said in a statement. "Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time."
There had been hope the baby would survive after he managed to take his first breaths without the help of hospital equipment earlier in June.
"When we touch him, he reacts. The baby is getting better," Ochoa-Lopez's father said at the time. "We want him to know we love him. He is a miracle of God."
But the baby's condition deteriorated over the last week.
"He suffered irrevocable brain damage. There's no medicine, there's no pill that can fix that. Only a miracle," Contreras said.
Figueroa and her daughter were arrested on May 16 after Ochoa-Lopez's body was discovered behind their home.
Both women have been charged with first-degree murder, while the mother's boyfriend, 40, has been charged with concealment of a homicide.
Newshub.
